What is the longest you've gone without internet?

[D.o.S.]

It definitely destabilized the dominant control groups when it comes to media.

Which I would presume you would be in favor of, repoman.

[oldangelmidnight]

I had a theory that everything went to shit after Kurt Cobain killed himself. All the music after that was bad. Culture was bummed out. People got obsessed with the OJ Simpson trial then the Clinton impeachment. Clinton was distracted and ineffectual which let Bin Laden get away with 9/11. Corporations took over and now we live in Mega City One.

We're still in transition with the Internet. We're not used to having instant access to everything and we don't know how to handle this post-scarcity world. If we survive the change, it will be glorious.

[jrfox92]

Sometimes I sleep for like six hours with frequent breaks for ILFing.

[D.o.S.]

All the music after that was bad.

Counterpoint: the internet has made it way easier to find good music.

[MEC]

All the music after that was bad.

Counterpoint: the internet has made it way easier to find good music.

[ck3]

I made it 18 years before entering college around the time of the internet boom. A former classmate showed me how to score remote dial-up access via the university network my freshman year, and I 've been hardwired to the matrix in some way, shape, or form ever since ... even moreso since the advent of mobile internet and streaming video services. Immediate gratification has become a way of life.

[oldangelmidnight]

All the music after that was bad.

Counterpoint: the internet has made it way easier to find good music.

It wasn't a good theory...

Both easier and harder. We have more access to everything. We don't have more time to sift through it. Some curatorial institutions have developed but they're not great. Bandcamp is magic. Forums are magic. But you need to have the time to figure it all out.

[repoman]

My theory is that the internet made music literally worthless in more than a monetary sense, because of its monetary state.

Those CDs you had to buy for 12-16 dollars...maybe it wasn't as 'good' music (in a certain snobbish way), but it meant something more to you back then BECAUSE you had to fork over your moolah for it, and you didn't have your choice of everything under the sun. Everything is on youtube and you are exposed to so much good stuff but at the same time you are stealing it and its worth nothing to you in a way. Related, I think art is created in a vacuum of influence (or maybe you have a bit of influence but then you go into your own little void to make it), not in a bottomless pit of it like we have today.

I wonder if there are any anti-internet cults

[D.o.S.]

I agree with that. But I also still buy cds. So.

[Eivind August]

All I know is, I would totally smoke dynamite hash and screw with Cindy.

Yes. All day and all night.

This whole meme/childish culture is way out of control in facebook that is not even funny, I wish all this stayed in 4chan and the likes.

Yes. That whole faux-nihilism schtick is sickening - some kind of glorification of social anxiety and death wishes. Probably a symptom more than a problem.

The longest I've gone without internet is my childhood. In recent years I've done a month now and then while travelling. Things got a bit weird after smartphones, but it is still a choice whether to use the capabilities or not. And, to use my standard argument: The internet, like pedals, is a tool. It is not inherently good or bad, but it sure is practical for a lot of tasks, unless you glorify the past like some lame-sauce TGP soyboy snowflake participation trophy &c.

[coldbrightsunlight]

I agree with that. But I also still buy cds. So.

Wow there's two of us!!

Since getting on the internet the longest I've ever been without it was when I went travelling around India and Thailand for two months. Didn't miss it much, but I probably would miss it a lot more if I tried that now!

[Andrew]

I agree with that. But I also still buy cds. So.

Wow there's two of us!!

Since getting on the internet the longest I've ever been without it was when I went travelling around India and Thailand for two months. Didn't miss it much, but I probably would miss it a lot more if I tried that now!

I buy DVDs.

Australian internet is barely functional, whopping 3mbps.

[popvulture]

Smartphones really have been the final coffin nail in terms of making it hopelessly embedded in our lives. I recently was looking at one of those new, hilariously appealing "dumb phones" that just send texts and make calls, but then I realized all the things that I use my iPhone for. Maps/traffic. Lyft. Looking up shit at the grocery store that I forgot/need. Tinder. Remembering that movie that Brad Dourif was in that's driving me crazy.

Most of that's all fine, except for maybe the incessant googling/wikipedia'ing of information that's really inconsequential. BUT... the fucking smartphones keep us that much closer to constant Internet, which for me equals looking at/shopping for things I don't fucking need, all the time. Gear's just the tip of the iceberg. Clothes. Kitchen stuff. House stuff. It's insane... buy buy buy, and I do.

Yet I have zero desire to quit. I just wanna hang with Cindy.

[Eivind August]

^ I think we touched upon this once before, regarding Facebook, but do you guys find it that hard to just not check your phone if it doesn't serve a purpose? Not that I am some übermensch who never randomly googles bullshit on my phone, but still, they've only been here for like ten years, and I kind of doubt that we collectively forgot what we used to do before the arrival of smartphones.

[Jwar]

I couldn't work without the internet. All the money I make is based around it's access and use. I mean, I could technically rent properties without it, but I couldn't do the background checks properly and such. So huge pain in the ass. Plus I mobile deposit checks...etc. Plus I'm part owner of an online fitness company. Soooooooooo....online. LOL.


Also, you mofo's take the nihilism memes WAY too fucking seriously if you cannot laugh at that shit. I've been down in the dumps more times than I can count and I think that shit is funny. Part of what keeps me sane and from not stepping over the edge is having a good laugh, sometimes at my own expense.

I as well buy cd's still. I actually buy dvd's, blurays, cd's and records. Oh and I buy paper books.